A Cambridge girl has spoken about about online bulling, and has urged people to take the crime more seriously.

The number of children and young people tormented at the hands of online trolls has increased by 88 per cent in five years, as the NSPCC published its latest report ‘What children are telling us about bullying’.

The figures, released at the start of Anti-Bullying Week, show the charity’s helpline service, Childline counselled 4,541 children about online bullying in 2015/16 compared to 2,410 in 2011/12.

Read More

Claire, whose name has been changed, said: "I think cyberbullying needs to be taken more seriously as it can really affect someone without parents or friends knowing. Face to face bullying is dangerous, but it doesn’t come into your home and attack you in your room at night. You don’t feel safe anywhere.

"You can walk away from face to face bullying, with cyberbullying there are so many ways, apps, sites and platforms a bully can get to you. You feel stuck without any way to make it stop."

Claire's story is reproduced in full below.

Peter Wanless, Chief Executive of the NSPCC said: “Online bullying is one of the biggest child protections challenges of this generation. It is a problem intensified by the ever-increasing presence of the internet. Years ago a child could escape their bullies when they left the playground and get some respite in the safety of their home, now the 24/7 nature of the internet means that a child can be targeted around the clock.

“Bullying, regardless of whether it occurs online or in person can have a devastating impact on a young person, affecting their self-worth, leave them feeling isolated and potentially being a trigger for depression. In the worst case scenarios, bullying has driven children and young people to self-harm and even suicide.”

Children and young people can contact Childline for free, confidential support and advice, 24 hours a day on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk. Parents can contact O2/NSPCC for free advice on 0808 8005002.

Claire’s* story – cyberbullying and ChildLine

*Names have been changed to protect identity.

"I was 13 when I first started using social media. We had a shared family computer at home so my mum would limit the amount of time I spent on social media sites so I was only using them for an hour or two an evening. I liked Facebook and YouTube the best. Facebook meant I could chat with my friends without having to ask my parent’s permission to go round and visit them face to face. I had a mobile phone from when I was 10 but that was only for my parents to contact me, I used social media to speak to friends.

"I had been friends with a couple of girls, Lucy* and Rose* for a few years – I considered us best friends, we were really close. I was going through a bit of a rough patch at the time, getting over something painful that had happened to me. Lucy and Rose had been supportive and on this occasion, we’d been having a sleepover and having fun. All of a sudden, Lucy got upset about something and wouldn’t speak to me about it. I tried to calm her down but she shouted and screamed for me to leave her alone. So I left them alone and went home. The incident left me really upset and I felt hurt that she couldn’t tell me what was wrong. I told Lucy and Rose that I didn’t want to see them that evening and decided to spend it at home instead.

"That night I started getting abusive messages from Lucy over Snapchat. She called me a fake friend and told me that neither her nor Rose liked me and that I had betrayed them. She said I was worthless and attention seeking and called me a freak. I tried to reason with her but she just got more and more nasty. I messaged Rose at one point but Lucy said Rose wasn’t my friend anymore. I tried to ignore her, but the messages were coming and coming and the more my phone bleeped the more upset I got. At the time I didn’t know about the blocking facility on Snapchat so didn’t know I could have stopped the messages from coming through. I was crying at my phone to make it stop but she wouldn’t.

"The messages continued until 2am in the morning, they were incessant. I self-harmed to stop the pain I was feeling and started to consider committing suicide. It was the only thing I could think of to make it stop. I stood at the top of my stairs and thought about jumping but managed to step back into my bedroom. I called my boyfriend crying and asked him to help. With his support I calmed down and finally managed to get to sleep. I felt horrible.

"The next day I didn’t feel like I could tell my parents about the cyberbullying and I didn’t hear from Lucy or Rose. I felt confused and really alone.

"I didn’t hear from Lucy until a week later when she apologised but our friendship never recovered. I didn’t feel like I could trust her again not to hurt me as much as she had done. When she picked a fight a couple of weeks after that I decided she wasn’t a good person to be around and cut her out from my life.

"I think cyberbullying needs to be taken more seriously as it can really affect someone without parents or friends knowing. Face to face bullying is dangerous, but it doesn’t come into your home and attack you in your room at night. You don’t feel safe anywhere. You can walk away from face to face bullying, with cyberbullying there are so many ways, apps, sites and platforms a bully can get to you. You feel stuck without any way to make it stop.

"I’m fine now and feel stronger to deal with bullies; I’m at college and enjoying my course and have new friends. My advice for anyone who might be going through or have gone through something similar is to talk to someone immediately, before you get as upset as I did and contemplate doing what I thought about doing. Talk to parents or ChildLine, anyone who can help you to make it stop.

"I used ChildLine when I was younger whenever I was feeling down. The counsellors supported me through some rough times in my life and I’m really grateful for their advice and for listening to me. "